Bill Nelson: “Senator Byrd's amendment, on which we will be voting probably later today, will allow us to fulfill the promises we made…”

“Senator Byrd's amendment, on which we will be voting probably later today, will allow us to fulfill the promises we made when we passed 2 years ago the No Child Left Behind Act which was the additional educational assistance from the Federal Government to the States and local governments in order to help children by increasing title I for disadvantaged children. Let me go back and cite a little of the history. The Federal Government has had a very limited role in education. Today, of all the expenditures for education--be it at the university level all the way down to the beginning of school, pre-K and K--the Federal Government only engages in 7 percent of those expenses. Ninety-three percent is borne by the governments you would expect to carry the load in education--the State and the local governments, mainly through the school boards.”